ROB VARELA/THE STAR
Advanced Theoretical Concepts owner Paulo Marin displays some of the woodworking tools his company manufactures at its Camarillo facility.

Ventura County Star

It was the diversity of parts made by Advanced Theoretical Concepts Inc. that first attracted Paulo Marin and his wife, Karin Riedel, to buy the Camarillo business in 2008.

And during the recession, diversity was key to keeping the manufacturer afloat. Now the owners hope diversity will take ATC into a new era.

"The diversity of parts we make has kept us alive," Marin said. "I believe diversifying and reinventing ourselves is going to really propel us to a much better position."

The business, which employs about 10 people, machines prototypes of complex, precise parts for aerospace, automotive and medical device manufacturers and the military and then produces them in the hundreds or thousands.

A display case in the lobby of ATC's 6,000-square-foot site shows off hundreds of objects made of metal, plastic and other materials in an array of shapes and sizes.

Among the manufacturer's spectrum of design and production are parts for the Mars exploration vehicles Pathfinder and Spirit, missile fins, automotive brake calipers, tiny metal frames to hold even tinier LED screens and an internationally recognized line of wood-turning tools.

Marin and Riedel weren't looking to become manufacturers when they bought ATC. They really just wanted a single machining company that could make the nearly 50-year-old line of wood-turning tools, called Glaser Hitec, that Marin bought in 2005 from inventor Jerry Glaser, who died recently.

Marin, a woodworking hobbyist with a background in design, bought the line to save the tools from dropping out of existence.

"He was a genius, and he was going to let it go away," Marin said. "He was going to die and take this technology with him."

After spending three years farming out the manufacturing of tool pieces and then assembling them, the couple began looking for a single company that could make the tools so they could control production. There were too many issues with quality, time and money using different companies, Riedel said.

They came across ATC, which happened to be for sale. Marin said they were intrigued by its diversity, prototyping and production capabilities; its big-name customers such as the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Boeing, Nikon and Nike; the Mars vehicles; and a pipeline of projects.

The couple also saw ATC as a way to fulfill Riedel's dream of using her background in biomechanics and gymnastics to design and make medical devices.

After buying ATC, which had been operating for 18 years and had about $3.5 million in yearly revenue, the couple overhauled the business. They spent $750,000 on four new manufacturing machines, doubling the previous number, a move that has sped production by 80 percent and increased accuracy, Marin said. In addition, they implemented new operating procedures and quality standards, bought $50,000 of new inspection equipment, rehired key staff members and trained employees in customer service.

The quality procedures mandated that newly made parts be inspected before large-scale production and during production.

"It changed us overnight," machinist Oscar Navarro said.

ATC is also undergoing the long, costly and risky process to become certified to sell to aerospace companies. The quality management standard, known as AS9100, is a $60,000 investment, Marin said.

"This opens up the door for us to be involved in a higher level of products," he said.

The improvements, particularly the certification, position the company for its newest venture: crafting and producing working prototypes of a new six-cylinder, 12-piston engine for small aircraft that Marin said will take up less space and require less frequent maintenance.

Prototype production of the engine is about to start, Marin said, with investors in place and $20 million to fund production on a larger scale. Marin is also close to introducing the engine prototype to his connections in the Navy, he said, because he believes a second market for the small engines could be drones.